A Case Study of an Anonymous Woman in Angela Carter’s Short Story “The Bloody Chamber” Through the Lens of Lacanian “Psychosis”

Abstract

This paper examines the character of the Marquis in the short story The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter through the theoretical framework of Lacanian psychoanalysis. Carter, one of the prominent feminist writers of the modern era, presents in this story an anonymous female narrator who recalls her past life and her disturbing marriage with a wealthy aristocrat known as the Marquis. Although the Marquis appears to be a sophisticated and well-established man, his behavior gradually creates suspicion in the mind of his young wife. The mystery surrounding his personality becomes clear when the narrator enters the forbidden “bloody chamber,” where she discovers the corpses of his three previous wives. This shocking revelation exposes the violent and abnormal psychological dimension of the Marquis.